The cat lay down in front of him…and you’ll never guess what happened next!

Did that work? Did my headline make you click?

Well, you’re reading this, so it must have worked a little bit.

I think I can speak for the majority of bloggers out there when I say that we have a love/hate relationship with headlines. Click-bait is a thing; everyone knows it. Some people fall for it — oh, who are we kidding? SHITLOADS of people fall for it — and that translates to more views, and more views translates to…world domination, hopefully.

But then it’s finding that tricky balance between a click-bait title and worthwhile content. And if you’re desperate to come up with some topics, because you feel like your proverbial well has run dry? Then you can fall into the trap of trying to come up with a catchy title that will help you create a fantastic post.

Sometimes that works. But it’s a bit of a gamble, and an easy way to waste time.

And, to be honest, I despise click-bait when I encounter it on places like Facebook. I sometimes avoid clicking on what I know to be good links, recommended by friends, purely out of spite. For the click-baity-ness of it.

I mean, all you have to do is visit websites like ViralNova and Buzzfeed and browse their “articles” to see how ridiculous it can get.

“He heard sounds coming from a storm drain. What he found had me in awe.”

Seriously? Fuck off. I don’t give a shit what had you in awe, because I don’t know you. Pretty simple.

Even the perennial feel-good favourite, Upworthy, participates in shitty, annoying click-baiting practices. It actually caused me to unsubscribe from their email list, because my eyes were starting to get damaged from rolling so far back in my head. I kept getting these headaches after I opened up their emails, y’know?

I used to love creating beautiful titles for my posts, or for anything I wrote. But I’ve completely fallen into the click bait trap. I know that “How to find solace during a difficult breastfeeding relationship” will get more views than “Ray of Light.” But my creative side cringes.

But I’ll keep doing it, because who are we kidding? More views = world domination, like I said before.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering what actually happened when the cat lay down in front of baby C, I’ll tell you: he cuddled her, scrunched her fur a bit, and then grabbed her asshole with his tiny fingers.

Awesome.

~g